Mankato, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s soccer team defeated Bethany Lutheran College 7-0 in its first road match of the season on Wednesday night at the Viking Soccer Field. With a 1-0 lead after 45 minutes of play, the Gusties exploded for six second half goals en route to a victory in what was the first of two consecutive night matches.
Jason Schwab added two more goals to his team-leading total in Wednesday night’s win over Bethany Lutheran.
“The lads looked sharp and incisive from the outset today,” said Head Coach Mike Middleton. “This is a nice win, but now it’s time to focus on the Tacoma trip. We will go up against two top class teams out there so it should be fun!”
Gustavus improves to 2-1-0 overall with the win, while Bethany Lutheran drops to 0-3-0 with the loss. The Gustavus men’s soccer team will be back on the pitch Friday, Sept. 7 when it kicks off its trip to the Pacific Northwest with a 9:00 p.m. (CST) match against Pacific Lutheran University. The Black and Gold will bring the weekend to a close with a 4:00 p.m. (CST) contest against the University of Puget Sound on Sunday, Sept. 7. Both matches will take place in Tacoma, Washington.
Although the Gusties outshot the Vikings 11-1 in the opening half, their 11 shots only yielded just one goal. Jason Schwab (Jr., Stillwater, Minn.) scored that goal, which turned out to be the game-winner and the first of his two on the night, from Ryan Tollefsrud (Sr., Spearish, S.D.) in the fourth minute. Schwab later added a penalty kick goal at 55:22 to give Gustavus a 3-0 advantage.
“Only 1-0 at halftime was true testament to the work rate of Bethany Lutheran,” said Middleton. “They really worked hard for their coach.”
At 51:41 of the second half, Konnor Tranoris (Jr., Des Moines, Iowa) sparked the scoring spree with a goal from Henry Brose (So., New Richmond, Wis.).
Following Schwab’s second, Zach Brown (Sr., Eau Claire, Wis.) scored off assists from Eli Bjerk (Jr., Stillwater, Minn.) and David Lilly (Sr., Maple Grove, Minn.) at 61:19 to put the Gusties up 4-0. Lilly got one of his own at 66:45 off a feed from Andy Babusek (Sr., Chaska, Minn.), and Babusek pushed the lead to 6-0 with a goal at 71:14 off a pass from Nick Kieser (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.).
Ryan Tollesfrud brought the score to a final with a goal from Brown in the 85th minute.
“We kept the ball very well, moving them around, and eventually they found it hard to keep going,” Middleton stated. “We looked creative throughout and scored several nice goals worthy of winning any game.”
The Gusties outshot Bethany 18-0 in the second half and 29-1 in the match.
Goalkeepers Braden Schmid (Sr., West Fargo, N.D.) and Brett Ylonen (Sr., Lake Elmo, Minn.) each played a half and split the shutout. Nicholas Bera sufferd the loss for Bethany after allowing one goal and making one save in 15:44.